Fight to Death
by LaurenSummers
Summary: This year, the rules in the Hunger Games have changed: this means more gore and more entertainment for the audience, but certain death for the tributes. When Gale and Madge are chosen as the tributes from District 12, they don't know what to expect ...
1. Beginning

I crouch down low, keeping hidden behind the large berry bush that conceals me but still provides a few places here and there where I can see through. Several times I have pricked my fingers, but even though it stings, I don't even bother to think about it. When you could be killed at any time by anyone, small injuries are the least of your worries.

I try to ignore the feeling of starvation in my stomach: Gale will be back soon, hopefully with at least a decent rabbit or two that will last us a few days. He's been so quiet ever since the Games begun, only murmuring a few things to me, and strangely, he offered to do all the hunting and refused to let me do any. I think it must be because he still disagrees with the new rules this year. One rule is pretty good, but the other not so much. Both contestants that are from the same district can win, provided they both survive throughout the Games – but the age has been raised from 18 to 20, therefore meaning everyone aged 12 to 20 must have their names put in the ball. Gale wouldn't have had his name pulled out if it wasn't for the latter – he's 19, two years older than me. Personally, I didn't even know what to think of the new rules until my name was pulled, something that I didn't expect – no-one expected – to happen. Being the mayor's daughter, I didn't need to put my name in more times in exchange for tesserae, and compared to the forty or so times Gale entered his name, my six was barely anything.

Even though it may sound awful, I'm kind of glad for both of these new rules. If they hadn't been put in place, I wouldn't have ended up with Gale as the boy tribute from District 12, and he is a superb hunter. His abilities will definitely help us survive.

Then again, I do feel kind of bad. Despite the 11 out of 12 I scored when I had my private session with the Gamemakers, I don't know how I will be of any help to Gale. I don't even know why I scored such a high score. All I showed them was that I know twenty different ways to kill someone with my bare hands and that I'm pretty quick on my feet. That's nothing compared to what Katniss – last year's winner – could do, and she scored an 11, too. She's from the same district I am, District 12, and much poorer than I – my father and I buy the berries she and Gale used to collect. Now everyone expects me to be as good as her, which I know as a fact I can't.

The crunch of snow underfoot off to the left makes my head swivel round automatically, and I raise the small dagger Gale left me uselessly. We managed to snag a few supplies at the very beginning of the Games (rope, blanket, two daggers, drink bottle, backpack and a loaf of bread), and they have been quite helpful over the past two days. That's how long the Games have been going for, and so far, only one tribute has been killed.

"Madge?" I hear Gale's hushed voice call out to me.

"Over here," I call back softly, and shuffle over a bit to make room for him. We – well, Gale – managed to find a good hideout right by a stream that has pure, drinkable water, and so far it has helped to keep us protected from the rain a little bit. It seems to rain almost every night, which must be a little addition the Gamemakers decided to add in, as well as at least a dozen unknown species of wildlife that roam mostly at night. That was how the tribute from District 5 got killed. Her name was April, I think. I saw her wandering, alone, on the first night, and I could sense something … dangerous close. Sure enough, within a few minutes a great big thing had her pinned to the floor and, well, began to feast on her. I turned away until they took her body, afraid to see the remnants of it. It reminded me just how close we could be to death if we risked anything even as small as running across a three metre clearing; it definitely shocked me back in to reality.

"What did you catch?" I ask Gale as he squeezes in next to me.

"Three rabbits and a possum," he replies quietly, holding them up in his right hand. I look away in disgust, but am thankful he had found us food nonetheless.

"Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Nope," I say, and suddenly the realisation of how lucky I am sinks in. Any of the tributes could have seen and killed me within a few seconds, if they wanted to. And nothing would stop them, especially not the Careers.

"That's good. I saw that boy from District 7 – Liam? He didn't see me, though. It was at least an hour away from here, too, so don't worry," Gale informed me, and then set to work cleaning the dried blood off his dagger.

"Thank you, by the way. I know you pretty much hate me, and you didn't even need to team up with me, so – thanks," I murmur, just loud enough for him to hear. He simply nods, and continues with the task at hand.

"Um – I was thinking that maybe tomorrow I could go get us some food. I don't mean meat or anything, since I haven't a clue how to hunt, but I've seen a few berry bushes around. I know which ones are edible, too," I say it slowly, and then pause, letting my words sink in.

"Okay," Gale nods again. "Sure."

We sit in silence for a while, and I watch curiously as he guts the rabbits and prepares them to eat. We can't start a fire now, when it's almost the middle of the night, but tomorrow we will be able to sometime during the day. Gale hands me a piece of raw meat, and I chew on it hungrily. Even though I know there will be cameras around, and that there's a good chance my parents will be able to see me, I don't bother eating nicely. I'm so starving all I can focus on is the meat.

"I'm going to get some sleep now, if you don't mind. Could you take the first watch?" Gale asks sleepily.

"Mmmhmm. I'll wake you in a few hours," I reply, but he's already fast asleep. I sit up from my spot on the ground and rummage around in our backpack, and produce a large woollen blanket that I drape over him. It should keep him warm. Then I wrap my jacket around me tighter and lean gently against a skinny tree, scanning the area around us through the gaps in the bushes.

Just when I have almost dozed off, I hear two people whispering loudly to each other not too far away. Straight away I feel guilty – I shouldn't have let myself almost fall asleep like that. I shake the guilt away, because now I have a bigger problem: we could be killed, right here, right now.

"Gale! Gale, quick wake up," I shake him slowly at first, but when the voices get louder, I start desperately rocking him to and fro until, finally, he opens his eyes.

"Wh – what?" he stammers, clearly confused.

"We've got company," I only just manage to say before an arrow comes flying our way, only just skimming my cheek but landing directly in Gale's right upperarm.


	2. Invasion

**Author Note: Sorry for such the long wait on the second chapter! D: Since this is my first story on FanFiction, I'm still trying to understand it all, and I've been a bit busy lately, so sorry about that. But I'll try get the third chapter done quicker! Please review. :D**

"Gale! Oh my god," I gasp aloud as his head flops down and a stream of blood starts to run down his shirt. He moans in pain, and I can only just hear the sound of retreating footsteps as the tributes disappear into the woods.

"Hello? Gale? Can you hear me?" I begin to desperately wave my hands in front of his face, and when I get no response, I sit back and close my eyes. A few years ago, I had found a stash of thick books hidden beneath my father's boxes – that were filled with "work stuff" – when he was out for the day. I didn't mean to pry, but the titles of two of them left me wondering and curious: _The Life of a Medic _and _Killing with Your Bare Hands. _Nobody was allowed these types of books in any of the districts, not even the mayor, so I had taken them to my room to study a tad closer. And my discovery had been … well, bigger than I expected. As the titles suggested, they gave me amazing knowledge on the life of a medic (and since only people from the Capitol can become medics, it must be pretty rare knowledge), explaining many things, like how to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre. I learnt a lot from the second book, too – in fact, it was thanks to that book I scored a massive 11 in front of the Gamemakers.

"Madge?" Gale groans again involuntarily. "Just … just win for us … okay?"

I don't know why, but I'm suddenly moved to tears.

"It's alright. There'll be no dying on my watch," I murmur, and my own words alone inspire me. I grab a few leaves from a nearby tree that I recognise from District 12 as healing leaves – my book told me that they helped to soothe pain and heal open wounds – and then secure them to Gale's arm with my jersey. It's relatively cold out, but with Gale in such a poor condition, the cold doesn't harm me one single bit.

"There," I whisper, and lean back to examine my work. Not bad for my first time, I must say.

It's much darker now, perhaps ten-thirty, maybe even later. The clouds above are dark and hover there spookily, and just by looking at them, I can tell that tomorrow will be a very wet day.

I gaze over at Gale and see that he is barely conscious, but just before he drifts off to sleep, I hear him mumble a few words: "Thank you, Madge."

As forecasted by yours truly, as soon as I wake up the next morning I can hear the pitter-patter of rain on the forest ground. Luckily, Gale picked a spot where we are almost completely sheltered, so we aren't at risk of freezing to death beneath the icy rain drops.

"How are you feeling, Gale?" I turn towards the space where he slept last night, expecting to see him still half-asleep. But instead, he's not there.

"Gale?" I whisper furiously, as loud as I dare. "Where are you?"

I start to panic. Anyone could've come by last night and seen us here, and they wouldn't have bothered to take both of us. It's a well-known fact among all the contestants that I can't survive without Gale.

I hear a low chuckle behind one of the thick tree trunks to the left, and turn just in time to see Gale's head pop around the corner.

"It's alright," he reassures me, and I simply stare at him, confused.

"They sent medicine," he explains, pointing to the small white bottle half a metre in front of me.

"Oh," is all I can think of to say as he sits cross-legged in front of me. The medicine sure seemed to work, since the bandage I put on his arm the night before is now nowhere to be seen, and the only proof that he was wounded is a small scar that is barely visible.

"Must be some magic Capital medicine," he says when he notices me staring. "It's healed me, though, so that's all I really care about."

I shake my head; this must be a dream. It has to be.

"Gale … what have they done to you?" I ask, and my lips tremble as I speak.

"What do you mean?" he cocks his head to the side, confused. And that's when his skin starts to peel off and float to the ground swiftly, revealing red flesh underneath. His eyes darken quickly until they are almost black; as black as the fear I can feel inside of me. I scream aloud and start to shuffle back, away from him, away from the horror. His eyes lock on mine, still confused, and I watch helplessly as he starts to choke and fling his arms around. Half a dozen hands grab me at once, yanking me away from Gale, and although I know I must save him, I let them take me away.


End file.
